Translated interview from 1973 with Helmut Koinigg and Niki Lauda

Talkshow host (TH): Anyway, Zolder was a great success, and I am not going to start with Niki Lauda but with Helmut Koinigg. Both ..., I have to thank both, that they practically came straight from Belgium to us. They didn't want to come so fast, because they had to drive so fast yesterday.

(To Koinigg): You have won the Formula 2; no I am thinking ahead, the Formula V.

Koinigg (K): That would be great (If he had won the Formula 2)

TH: He won the Super Formula; how did your race go?

K: well, the race was like one wishes a race to be. With a start-finish victory, it gave me what I, or every racing driver, wishes for.

TH: Who were your primary opponents?

K: Well, That was the Finn Mika Apianem, Who drives a race car very fast, and he pressured me during the first half of the race, but then thank god it worked out. He made a small mistake, and I gained some space, and then I crossed the finish Line with quite some space.

TH: I think with my speech Error at the beginng I formulated your hopes. You want to change, dont you?

K: Yes the Formula 2 is very dear to me. And I am trying everything possible with lots of negotiations to get into it. But it is a bit difficult, as I think Niki can confirm.

TH: And do you think you will drive Formula 2 this year?

K: Yes I think so. I think it will happen in June. I hope so.

TH: Alright, we congratulate you anyway.

K: Thank you.

TH to Lauda: And big congratulations to you on winning your first World Championship points. It was about time.

Lauda (L): Yes, I am very happy that I succeeded this time because I have waited a long time for this.

TH: There were big discussions before the race if the race should take place (start). Who were the speakers of the drivers, and was it the right decision that first it was said WE don't want to drive.

L: there were two major problems. One problem was Jacky Ickx, who isn't a part of GPDA, but he is Belgian. He left the GPDA when they refused to drive in SPA.

TH: GPDA is?

L: The Grand Prix Drivers' Association.

L: In contrast, we with our President Denny Hulme at the top. The Problem was that after the first practice, the asphalt dissolved after the organisers assured us twice that the asphalt was 100 per cent alright. The race track was undriveable for the second practice which took place on the first day. Ickx told over and over that he would Drive because he isn't a member. And in the end, WE wanted a signed paper from the organisers in which they would declare to cancel the race if the Asphalt would crack again on the next day after it was repaired a third time. We were pressured by our constructors, who wanted it this way, because if the organisers cancel the race, they have to pay the constructors back.

TH: So in the end it was a finacial question?

L: It was a finacial question. And it went so far that we sat in our Caravan and waited for the signature. Meanwhile, the official practice started, and Jacky Ickx drove with his Ferrari a lap faster and faster. And it was very interesting to observe how the Brazilians, with their temperament, became more and more nervous and wanted to go outside. But Stewart and Hulme could keep everything under control. Then we got the signature, and instantly, practice was started by us.

TH: What happened on the track? Was the track save or was it dangerous?

L: The track was saved at the Saturday practice; when the Problem took place, the track was 100 percent safe. So everybody Said those stupid drivers that wasn t necessary. But as one could see on Sunday seven cars flew off the track in the Same corner, and I think that is not in favor of the track. The drivers did not stand a chance because if you drove one centimeter next to the line, you went into the sand, and with the wide Slick tires that resemble black ice and, as I already mentioned, seven cars in one corner.

TH: And how did your race go?

L: My race went alright; we did not have any problems with the tyres. The only problem we Had was to calculate how much petrol we needed to have the least amount of weight on the tyres in order to keep them. So we calculated very tight, and for me, it sadly was too tight, and I had to make a Pit stop for petrol two laps before the race finished, after I tried to drive on but in but in pitlane(for the pit stop) the car broke down and did not make a sound.

TH : How many liters are we talking about?

L: They filled five litres in the tank. And the problem was while exiting the pit lane, I drove back on the track behind Andrea Deadamitc. And I did not know He was the one going for my fourth place. That's is why I did not take any risks to Overtake him, and you stayed beside him, and we went over the finish line next to each other. But I did not know that was about the fourth place.

K: We Saw that.

TH: And if you would have been challenged?

L: I would have thought of Something. I don't know if it would have worked, but I would have risked something to get my place back. But sadly, I did not know that.

TH: But you were the most successful BRM Driver in this race.

L: Yes, Jean Pierre Beltoise Had to go to the pit with tyre Problems and electrical problems, I think. Reggazoni had tire damage, and he went off the track, I think, 10 laps before the end.

1TH: How is it in your racing team? Are people Happy for you, or is such a placement Just ignored?

L: No, No BRM was very Happy about the placement, although they were a bit beaten down by the Petrol Problem. Even though, at the moment nobody knows what actually caused the problem. The Car is being disassembled, and it could be that one of the vents from the five different fuel tanks which the car has was blocked, and so one fuel tank could Not empty itself. But this Can only be found in the Workshop.

TH: And when is your next race?

L: Tomorrow I have to fly to Sweden to Test with BRM for the Swedish grand prix, which takes place in about a month, again a tyre test. And the next grand prix is Monte Carlo in 14 days.

TH: Then you can Support the Austria football Players (soccer) on wednesday.

L: Yes, I will surley do that.

TH: So Here we are again at the starting Point of our Broadcast. Ladies ans Gentlemen this was Tele Sport for today. I hope you liked it. Goodbye and good night.

Big thanks to my friend Linda for translating the interview for me.

More of Daniel Brühl on Just One Last Question with Frank Elstner:

Listen. I don't think it's an accident we haven't seen Daniel in many of the major chat shows like Fallon. Save for the press junkets that must be contractual for big Hollywood projects, he seems to be quite selective in the interview sessions he agrees to.

It tracks that he wouldn't do anything gimmicky like Thirst Tweets—can you imagine though?? this feral fandom would be the death of him—opting instead for a long and intimate format that focuses on his work, like DP/30. This one falls under that format but it's special. Apart from his Arte documentary, I've never seen him more relaxed and candid. For one, he's never talked about his family this much. Already posted about the time Dame Helen Mirren bit his neck, who can blame her really now gonna go over some other favorite moments...

The way his entire face lights up when the host tells him about the time he worked with Daniel's (late) father:

The adorable way his son thinks his father is a clown off to the circus:

The animated way he talks about his son:

...and the almost bashful way he adds this afterthought:

His mischievous reaction when the host asks about his wife's influence on raising their child:

The way he opens up about his perfectionism and other shortcomings:

The way he pushes through his nervousness when the host drops this bombshell on him. (I'm all for hard-hitting questions but I was definitely like: HOW DARE YOU, SIR??)

The really long pause he takes when the host asks him when he last apologized to someone:

I first heard this referenced in Conversation with Juan Gabriel Vásquez at the Hay Festival, but he never really mentioned which movies of his actually made it to the shelf, so I was happy he did here.

...and you better believe I hollered my answers like I was on a quiz show. And I would have taken home the prize money because I scored 3/3 with Good Bye, Lenin!, Rush, and Inglorious Basterds.

p.s. shame as it is that we'll never see him squirm reading Thirst Tweets, I'm hoping someone will convince him to do Hot Ones. The depth of Sean Evans' questions will honestly surprise him. Also holding out hope that he'll be on The Graham Norton Show someday.

therapy is not enough i need daniel brühl and chris hemsworth to play in a movie together again

That photo of baby nico and his mom is so cute! Sina actually kind of looks like princess diana there, i had no idea that nico looked so much like her. As tumblr's resident nicologist is there any lore about Sina, with or without Keke?

ooo sina is actually a very cool lady, and yeah nico does quite look like her.

in the 80's she was a total baddie, working as a German translator and keke, normal seen as cold finnish gruff, was HEAD OVER HEELS for her. in fact the rosbergs speak German at home because Sina is German and to quote Keke he lost his identity completely because he got "sexually hooked on Sina"

this interview by premier nicologist distantlaughter (big big recommend the whole thing)

so when they got married keke was like i do and sina was like eh 🤷‍♀️ why not. you can see keke's 😍 like heyyy good looking. sir that is your wife. this current unromantic ass non simp grid could never 🙄

this is crucial sina lore, where keke was invited to the finnish independence ball and she wore a suit which women weren't approved to do. the bowtie on a bare neck is such a look

while nico was karting, and later racing sina would always vacuum during grand prixs on the telly cause she'd be too nervous watching nico race.

more of sina being a baddie

in abu dhabi 16, she was telling niki lauda how it was her golden egg cells + keke's sperm that made nico (aka her genes that did the work). and yes that is a drink in her hand

😎😎😎😎

I have spent all day watching classic f1 interviews and I never understood why people called Niki Lauda ugly. He's got an overbite but he was always attractive, even before his accident

Gossip girl xoxo ~

F1 grid x driver! Reader

Side note : I don't know why it took me so long to write this but here we go

The reader is a driver on red bull at checo's place

Request : no

Part 2 /part 3 / masterlist

It all started when y/n a young talented woman joined the f1 in red bull racing, having won 2 World titles at f2 finally getting the recognition she deserved.

When she was younger she looked up on a lot of drivers that had retired by the time she joined at 2019 like Sebastian Vettle, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Michel Schumacher, Niki lauda and a few others.

Having her room filled with posters, signed photos, cups, shirts, pictures of her and her idols, paddock passes and everything.

Her childhood crush on Jenson Button was a best kept secret,. Very few knew about her crush and she preferred it that way because it was going to be awkward because if it got out, because come on they work together in a sense, he had interviewed her multiple times.

Driving along side max both at 17 had both good days and bad, with competition racing against your idols, your friends was a bit of a struggle in the beginning but as the months passed they all learned to not take whatever happens on the track outside of it and then she and a few others like Max, Charles, Lando, Oscar, Pierre and some other people getting more serious with the races.

The fans favourite moments were when before they race they waving at one other from inside of their cockpits, or traditions they did before the race, or even when they gathered around gossiping when and if they could whenever they were. Outside at a cafe? Yes!, at their hang outs? Yes!, at their grid walks? Yep! And the fan favs at press conference and before the races. Twitter going crazy about that.

There are so many talks.

When you spend almost half of your time on a place With so many people, either loud or whispers you Will learn so many things and hear so many things which you probably shouldn't hear or know but it's hard to not acknowledge them like an engineer from Mercedes fucked someone from redbull in hopes of learning information about the car so Mercedes could be better.

Or that a redbull engineer got his wife little sister and best friend pregnant the same month that he got his wife pregnant With his second child.

Some times you hear rumor regardless of whether that may be true or not....

Christian horner talking and fucking a girl from his team which when you learned that you didn't know what to do because Christian was a father figure to you and Max having shity fathers. Be cautious when you were around him? Desapointed? Sad? Or disgusted? You didn't know for sure either way and you went to max first with the information you had. At first he was just like you. A wave of emotions washed over him like it did to you, then you both discuss and decided on what to do and that was to wait and see if it's true or not, to not tell anyone nor his wife which you were close to or anyone for that matter and never mentioned it again... Verbally anyway when you saw him texting someone in the presence of his wife you exchanged looks, knowing looks or side eyeing each other when you saw them together talking a few meters from everyone else whispering . Which a few months later the texts of them were linked and you learned that a week or so from the first race of the season when you were tagged in a post about it

(Side note: I took actual tweets of that because I can't be bothered to make fake ones but also I am trying to edit it to have her be mentioned in them)

Hey I am gonna do a part 2 because it doesn't let me put more than 10 so.... Sorry

full offence but the journalist who wrote that article about max in the sunday times should never write about f1 again. that interview was so fucking stupid i think i actually became dumber from reading it.

"normally taciturn niki lauda" -- niki lauda has never held back a single thought in his life

"more than 100 million viewers watched the new kid on the block win his first drivers' championship" -- he'd literally been in f1 for 6 years at that point, that's more than 100 races, and he was one of the more experienced drivers on the grid even then

"there are plenty who don't like what verstappen gets up to on track. kimi raikkonen ... is in no doubt '[verstappen's] only interest was in pushing me off the circuit completely' he fumed" -- kimi said this in the immediate aftermath of spa 2016, it is not reflective of his current opinion, or that of his opinion at any point in the last 8 years

"when verstappen and [hamilton] slammed into each other at monza in 2021, rivalry spilt over into outright hostility" -- conveniently forgetting when lewis tried to murder max at silverstone several weeks earlier

"appearing to forget his intercom was broadcasting to the entire world, hamilton yelled" -- no one has used the radio messages to publicly push a narrative better than lewis hamilton

"oscar piastri ... verstappen's rival in the current series" -- i like oscar but to call him a rival is literally insane

"sceptics claim it's more about the car than the driver ... mexican sergio perez did finish second" -- second by a humiliating amount of points that actually proved that it's not just the car

this whole article is ridiculous. i think the only drivers this guy knew before meeting max were lewis hamilton and james hunt. there were almost more references to them than there were to max and he was the subject of the interview

LH100 got me dusting off my Lewis folder. Saw these two gifs I made when I was wondering last year what if he never left McLaren. Lewis, in interviews, said this (Singapore '12) was the same race/night he and Niki Lauda talked which led him to move to Mercedes. So I guess the answer to that what if is something we'll never know, because one thing about Lewis is he will change. He will bet on himself. That puts all other doubts in their rightful place. Happy belated LH100.

"I'm 75 now. Niki Lauda is 75 today - the 75 that also stands for the year of his first World Championship title. One of the greatest legends of sports, and as far as history is concerned 'The Greatest' as Muhammad Ali said about him. Admired by Karajan, adored by Cassius Clay, appreciated by Ayrton Senna, advised by Franz Klammer at the wedding - what a giant. So unbelievable to have spent my professional life with such a person. Attached are a few memories: the most beautiful story, the dearest interview (in which he asked more than answered), the obituary, the last self-made photo in the BMW. Thank you Niki, Thank you!" - february 22, 2024 📷 @.gerald__enzinger / instagram

Niki, what is the meaning of life?

"The good Lord put us on a wide road, and you can drive along it as you like. You will try not to pamper yourself anywhere, because God only gave you this one road and no paradise. You are fully responsible for your own life and need to know what you want to make of it. It is obvious that someone else is also steering. So something in the whole system is predetermined and mysterious to us as destiny. But within your means you must drive like a madman: in bad times to make them better yourself, and in better times not to take off but to know, my dear friend, that the landing will come eventually."

-- Niki Lauda, Autorevue

THE BEST OF DANIEL BRÜHL

It’s dumb, honestly.

You get this seemingly brilliant idea of turning to foreign films so you’re forced to read subtitles and focus—a problem you’ve been noticing of late—but in doing so, you end up with a more destructive distraction.

“Who’s that guy, again? The one in all those international productions?” That’s how I found myself on my Daniel Brühl marathon-turned-obsession.

It was his role as the cute Nazi in Inglorious Basterds that first put him on my radar. Over the years, I would see him in The Fifth Estate, Burnt, Woman in Gold, The Zookeeper’s Wife, and The King’s Man. Midway through All Quiet on the Western Front, I was like, “All this needs is that German actor…” and I had to chuckle when he later appeared on screen. I also checked out the first season of The Alienist because I was intrigued by what he and Dakota Fanning as leads would do with such a spooky-looking show.

Adorable as he was in his breakout role in Good Bye, Lenin!, it was his performance in the critically-acclaimed Rush that caused me to spiral. Similar to when Benedict Cumberbatch took on the modern version of Sherlock, it was like seeing Brühl with new eyes. His playful take on Helmut Zemo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was the final nail in the coffin. I don’t imagine it’s all too different from what Tom Hiddleston did to fans of Marvel as Loki.

I’m actually at the tail-end of this obsession now that I’ve seen everything I can get a hold of—around 39 films, two TV shows, a documentary, a music video, countless interviews, a bunch of ads, and a handful of fan cuts—but he has a lot of works worth recommending so I thought I would share them on here. This will mostly be a subjective list with priority on projects I found most interesting which showcase his range best. Like, I enjoyed The Bourne Ultimatum but he was on screen for a total of 2 minutes so I wouldn’t include that here.

RUSH (2013) This biographical sports film written by Peter Morgan—the man behind The Crown—centers on the rivalry between Formula One drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda in the 70s. Not a fan of F1 or sports in general. I have nothing against either, just zero interest. But this character-driven film, much like Ford vs Ferrari, had me at the edge of my seat the entire ride. And it surprisingly has one of the best meet-cutes—and accidental wingmen—I’ve seen yet.

Brühl delivers an Oscar-worthy performance in this role. For someone who needed a lot of convincing he could do the character justice, he truly went above and beyond. For one, he befriended and studied Lauda, the iconic F1 figure he was portraying. No easy feat considering Lauda being, well… Lauda. In interviews, Brühl recounts the story of the memorable invite he got from Lauda to meet in Vienna. This would be their first meeting and Lauda told Brühl outright that he should only bring hand luggage so he can piss off if they don’t like each other.

He would end up staying a few days and buying additional clothes.

He also spent a month in Vienna to nail the accent, making sure to capture the arrogance and irony innate to it. And although he got driver training for the role, he also considered the tiniest details like which went on first: helmet or gloves? There was also the tricky business of looking graceful entering a tiny F1 car—a bigger challenge for Chris Hemsworth who plays Hunt—but an obstacle all the same.

All the hard work paid off. It was well-received by audiences, critics, and the F1 world. The first time Lauda saw the film he went, “Holy shit, that’s really me”. Lauda’s friends thought he did voiceover work for it. Director Ron Howard was so pleased with Brühl’s performance that he went out of his way to show an unfinished cut of the movie to the producers of The Fifth Estate (2013). This gracious act would land Brühl the co-lead role opposite Benedict Cumberbatch.

GOOD BYE, LENIN! (2003) Can't tell if it's just because the two films have the same composer and were created around the same time, but this tragicomedy set in East Germany reminded me so much of my beloved Amélie. This is definitely more dramatic and political but it has that same mix of whimsy, heart, and charm. With its budget, it was meant to be an indie film, but the story of a son who would recreate a faux-socialist world to keep his mother alive captured the heartstrings of audiences, not just in Germany but also worldwide. Brühl plays the son and his success with this film was a double-edged sword: although it would open doors for him internationally, he would also be typecast as the “nice guy” in his home country.

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (2009) This has one of the best, most intense opening sequences in all of cinema… and one of the greatest villains. In this wild alternate universe from Quentin Tarantino, he rewrites the ending of World War II. It’s the right balance of dark, hilarious, and entertaining—my favorite from the auteur’s works. Here Brühl plays a cute and charming Nazi, which is very confusing to the senses.

Aside from Brühl, it was also my first introduction to Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, and Melanie Laurent—all fantastic European actors who’ve crossed over to Hollywood after the success of this movie. “Crossing over” seems ubiquitous now but, at that time, giving most of the lead roles to then relatively unknown actors must have been a risk. But for this, it was necessary. Language plays a huge part in this trilingual film and casting native speakers grounded it in authenticity. Tarantino originally had Leonardo di Caprio in mind to play Hans Landa. Whether he meant for him to learn German or to speak English with a German accent, who knows. Either way, it’s safe to say that would have been a different film.

THE EDUKATORS / DIE FETTEN JAHRE SIND VORBEI (2004) This anti-capitalist film, which has become a cult classic, captures the spirit, idealism, recklessness, and angst of young revolutionaries who just want a better world. Where one stands on the measures taken, or even their sentiment, can be considered a litmus test. With or without reference to this quote from the movie—“Under 30 and not liberal, no heart. Over 30 and still liberal, no brain.”—is up to the viewer.

There needs to be a suspension of disbelief for the series of events that takes place but the setting is necessary for the clash of worlds to happen. It’s not a perfect movie but the issues they debate about in length… they’re still discussions we’re having nearly 20 years later.

p.s. this has my favorite behind-the-scenes of all of Brühl’s projects. Though he hasn’t lost his sense of humor, he seems to have become more reserved as he got older. HERE, at this period in his life, he’s a total goofball bordering on loose cannon.

THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER (2021) Though I’ve enjoyed quite a few MCU movies, I’m not invested in the universe at all, so watching this wasn’t a priority. In fact, I was ready to settle on YouTube compilations made by devoted fans of all the scenes Brühl was in. Upon seeing clips, however, I got intrigued by his character so I still ended up watching the miniseries and also Captain America: Civil War (2016).

Both were better than I expected. Civil War is more serious, while TFATWS is more playful, but both face relevant issues along with formidable foes. Brühl’s villain in Helmut Zemo is fascinating because he tears the mighty Avengers apart with mere patience, fury, and intelligence… and his motivations are understandable. He lets his character loose in TFATWS—at one point, on the dance floor—and it’s magnificent. His mission is still the same, but this time he does it with a lot of charm, humor, and fabulous Sokovian style. A Turkish delight, personified.

ME AND KAMINSKI / ICH UND KAMINSKI (2015) Brühl’s Sebastian Zöllner is a repulsive and sleazy journalist who has greasy hair and wears too much cologne but I can’t get enough of his chaotic energy. His magnum opus is hitched on a legendary artist dying and his fantasy is to turn the orphaned daughter into a sugar mommy. It’s all kinds of messed up but he plays the hell out of the smarmy dirtbag so it’s a lot of fun. This is Brühl’s second collaboration with Wolfgang Becker, who directed Good Bye, Lenin! Daniel Kehlmann, the writer whose eponymous book this film was based on, would later write Brühl’s directorial debut, Nebenan.

NO REGRETS / NICHTS BEUREUEN (2001) This is reminiscent of the slightly problematic but highly enjoyable teen comedies and coming-of-age films of the 90s. It’s like an edgier Can’t Hardly Wait: boy goes through cringe-worthy measures to get the girl he’s long been pining for, his two closest pals have nothing but dumb advice to offer, yet he still ends up on the path to self-discovery. It’s awkward, chaotic, frustrating, and beautiful—but such is adolescence.

Brühl and his co-star Jessica Schwarz fall in love on the set of this film. And although they would break up years later, the tenderness between their scenes together is palpable and there’s something rather bittersweet about seeing that captured in perpetuity.

For a more straightforward rom-com, he has Lila, Lila (2009). It’s about a guy who passes off a manuscript as his own to impress a girl and the hilarity that follows. It’s on YouTube for those who need a fun and light watch.

THE ALIENIST (2018 – 2020) Based on the novel of the same name, this moody psychological thriller set in late 19th century New York follows a psychiatrist—then called an Alienist—who investigates a series of grisly murders with methods still considered new and controversial at that time, such as psychology and fingerprinting. He gets by with a little help from his friends, John Moore, an illustrator for the New York Times, and Sara Howard, a society woman who works in the NYPD.

In the lead role of Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, Brühl plays the dark, complex, and mysterious Alienist whose study of mental pathologies and deviant behaviors reveals much of himself and his past.

LESSONS OF A DREAM / DER GANZ GROßE TRAUM (2011) This film is loosely based on Konrad Koch, an educator and pioneer who brought football to Germany in the late 19th century. In the movie, the sport is used as a means to pique students’ interest in the English language and culture—both considered barbaric by the Germans at that time. A heartwarming tale of a teacher who overcomes insurmountable odds and inspires students along the way, it’s the German equivalent of Dead Poet’s Society.

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (2022) This story, the third adaptation of the 1929 novel, “Im Westen nichts Neues”, conveys the futility of war like no other. There aren't as many films on World War I as there are on World War II, fewer ones that tell it from a German perspective, so this is doubly unique in that regard. Powerful watch but 10/10 not like to relive it again. Apart from producing it with his company, Amusement Park, Brühl plays Matthias Erzberger, the German State Secretary who pushes for armistice talks with the Allied forces.

An ideal companion watch to this would be Joyeux Noël / Merry Christmas (2005), another WWI movie Brühl stars in, which depicts the unbelievable Christmas truce between French, German, and Scottish soldiers in 1914. His linguistic ability shines here as he shifts between German, French, and English effortlessly. (Half German, half Spanish, Brühl speaks a total of five languages: those three plus Spanish and Catalan.)

The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017) and Alone in Berlin (2016) also recognize the bravery of defiance at the height of tyrannical regimes. Although between the two, I would skip the latter.

JOHN RABE (2009) This biographical film set in China tells the incredible true story of a German businessman who uses his Nazi Party membership to create an International Safety Zone in Nanking. This was in the late 1930s, during the Rape of Nanjing. In this six-week carnage by the Imperial Japanese Army—which includes sexual assault, mutilations, and killing contests—upwards of 200,000 Chinese are brutally murdered. The protective zone manages to save around the same number of civilians.

Brühl doesn’t play the titular Rabe, but his character, Dr. Georg Rosen, is one of few Westerners who decides to remain and protect Nanking even as conflict escalates. Dr. Rosen was a German Diplomat instrumental in the creation of the safety zone.

p.s. with all these heroic roles in his catalog, I’m convinced Brühl would be a frontrunner to play President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, should a movie be made about him and Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. You heard it here first.

NEXT DOOR / NEBENAN (2021) This is Brühl’s directorial debut. Here he plays a darker, fictionalized version of himself. Definitely not for everyone but quite enjoyable if you’re familiar with his major works and public persona, appreciate the ingenuity of one-location movies, and delight in British-style meta humor.

Pre-requisite viewing for maximum enjoyment: Good Bye, Lenin!, Captain America: Civil War, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

𝐍𝐈𝐊𝐈 𝐋. ─── ☾ 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅

Masterlist || Daniel Brühl Masterlist || Wattpad

Word Count: 3.7k

Warning: Mentions of anxiety attacks, taunts, nervousness, mentions of an accident, mentions of burns, mentions of operations.

Pairing: Niki Lauda x Reader

English is not my native language, so I apologize for any mistake and if you can help me improve it, I will greatly appreciate it. I hope you enjoy it :D

Niki was aware that he had been the most recognized driver of the season, something that he did not doubt at the beginning of the season due to his victory the previous year and his championship title. Many were going to praise him for his superb racing performance, but by 1976, he had been recognized for something other than his superb and slightly careful driving, having stood out among the other competitors for always being mindful of the risks involved each race would carry with it a certain amount of danger, or they could have even named him in various magazines over the months to talk about his rivalry with James, being a topic that was talked about a lot during conferences, or even his way of being so surly with the rest of the participants in the race, being nicknamed in different ways for this. But this time, it was for various reasons that publicists and distinct media tried to get an interview with the well-known Formula 1 driver, and it's not like you'd have to be smart enough to know why. You only had to see Niki, his physique, and the reasons why the man was now being so valued after the competition had ended was summed up by seeing his face. The Austrian knew that he had never been considered the most graceful man on the entire planet, not even in Europe or Austria, but he had enough confidence in himself not to give importance to the comments of his fans, and those who were not so much, and it did not depend in any sense on public opinion; if that had been the case, it is most likely that he would have already gone into depression due to the number of fans of the sport who insulted him for being the rival of another runner or for his very different personality compared to other pilots. The bad thing happened with that happy accident that changed his life so radically, with which he almost lost it due to the great pride that prevented him from withdrawing from the race before the catastrophe happened, merely guided by the desire to shut up James Hunt, and to those who had suggested that he was a coward for simply wanting to cancel the race due to the dire conditions in which the German track was found after the heavy rain that was suffering that first day of August. That same thing caused not only his life to have been hanging by a thread, even the fact that he could have left the good woman who had become his friend and who had accompanied him that day to encourage him in his career helpless, but also all confidence and self-esteem that he had vanished in the same way that the rain did when his car had gone up in flames. The Austrian not only had to deal with an intense recovery for five weeks while hoping to get back on the racetrack, but the shame that he would have to spend the rest of his life while people looked not at him, but at the grafts placed in some areas of his hands that were not so visible but were on his head and a large part of his face; somehow, many likened that transplanted skin to a strange meat mask, as if he were a human raccoon. It was a cruel joke, and Lauda knew that he had to get used to it as soon as possible, even if he wanted the majority of the world's population to focus more on his professional achievements or the masterful way in which he had managed to survive before on something so superficial as his new skin was or his appearance very similar to that of a bald rat; this last similarity, although it relieved the tension of many, further irritated the man in question who had suffered the accident.

He had only longed to silence the mouths of those who had always seen him as a coward, even more so after what happened, but he only received the occasional mockery, the incessant glances of the fans to see what was under his cap, the softer comments from his racing team, and the pity of those closest to him. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and in the great photo session to which he had been invited to be able to cover the latest Formula 1 book where everything that happened during the season would be mentioned, with several unpublished interviews from all the runners of the year with images of their respective cars and analysis of these and various graphics where a view of all the tracks in which they had participated would be offered with the position of each one of the participants, and various extra and curious data that could call the attention of the fans, is where the ineptitude of some of the high positions of the media was most appreciated. "Scheisse," the pilot muttered to himself as he tried to calm down, noticing how his right leg was trembling violently as a result of the nerves he was having at that precise moment, clenching his teeth to the point of thinking that if he exerted a little more pressure between them, it would end up breaking them.

If Niki's mind could already reach unimaginable speeds when he was on the race track while fighting for glory, in moments of nervousness and anxiety that very rarely reached him, it caused his mind to distort any element of reality and begin to imagine the worst possible scenarios. Niki hated with all his soul the anxiety that the accident had caused him. Many advised him to go to a mental health specialist, even if by then psychology was not classified as an exact science even though a part of it was medically and clinically oriented, but he supposed that it was unnecessary because he survived, he didn't understand what trauma the accident that hadn't already affected him could cause him, but when he began to feel his first wave of anxiety hit him after his first post-recovery race, he knew it wasn't going to be a one-shot thing time. The symptoms of the anxiety attacks returned to him suddenly with the discussion between him and the director of the magazine, the latter being the one who constantly insisted that Niki take off the red cap that always accompanied him, whether it was within the circuit of races or during interviews and even in his day to day if he was going to be seen in public. The fact that Lauda revealed his scars, his grafts, was something that everyone longed to see and, if the magazine had those very special images that everyone wanted to see, they were sure that finally someone else would want to buy it just to see because of the morbidity they caused injuries from your accident. That damned cap —Niki thought constantly— that damned accident had been what had destroyed his life, and people only wanted to have something from him because of the disgust or ridicule he could cause in others. In a moment of anger, completely irrational and driven by the stress that the situation had caused him, Niki forcefully grabbed his mythical red cap with small patches from his different sponsors and held it in his hands, being able to see in these the small scars of his operation and light skin graft due to how extreme his injuries had been in some other areas of his body. There were many emotions that he felt at once that finally caused an explosion inside him when, without even letting him think for a second about his actions, he angrily threw his cap towards the door of the small trailer that they had used to want to do some of his makeup. The already discovered areas of the grafts would impact the spectators even more, and they would be noticed as reddish or more reddish than they already were, being the place where he could also dress in what they had chosen for him, among which a suit stood out careers similar to his but not completely identical, while the other garments were rather mundane and unremarkable, darker and less conspicuous.

He saw in himself nothing more than a simple wrinkled raisin with huge teeth. If in itself he had caused laughter among the crowd due to his large incisors that made him look like a rat, being nicknamed "The Rat King" for this very reason, the fact that half of his face was covered by skin from other parts of his body and his head were still slightly wrapped on a few occasions by bandages to keep the area not so irritated by the friction of the cloth against the grafts had caused the laughter to multiply and now it was louder than ever.

"Mr. Lauda," a sweet and calm voice called him, your voice, one of the photographers who had witnessed the entire discussion with remarkable surprise while ignoring her boss's instructions to take pictures of him unsuspectingly while trying to remove his cap. Niki did not want to see anyone, much less someone belonging to the team of that moron who was in charge of that important magazine, even if you had refused to ridicule him like some of those present, "They are waiting for you on the photography set. Well, more like me, who pays me for this, in addition to the lighting equipment, costumes, and makeup." Your shaky voice caught his attention, and when he finally turned his icy blue gaze on you, he could make out how you had an awkward half-smile that might once have amused him, but now it only made him feel strange as he I could make out how you nervously drummed your fingers on the camera that you held in your little hands. He had been received in the same way by other people, making sure that the eyes of his interlocutors always moved away from his irises and focused on other areas of his face; he was embarrassing and intimidating. "Tell your boss to put the photographs where they fit. I'm going to get out of here," he indicated sternly, seeing how your body seemed to stop its involuntary movement once your eyes seemed to rest on it intensely as if you were observing something fascinating or completely out of the ordinary. "What?" Niki didn't know why you didn't answer him, and it wasn't until he noticed that his cap was a few centimeters from your shoe that he was finally able to answer that question he had asked himself a few seconds ago. You were seeing him without a cap, you were witnessing something that he too much prevented the rest of the world from seeing, and that caused a feeling of weakness to run through his body whenever it happened.

Now, the roles had been reversed: You could judge him, and he had to shut up and endure your judgment of him. You witnessed the cold, distant look of the pilot turn to a fearful one, the same one you might see in a small child who has just witnessed the worst thing he could have imagined, or perhaps as a young boy who has just been discovered by his parents having found out that he had done something terrible; in either case, the feeling that Lauda was then transmitting was one of fear.

Your heart could not help but skip a beat because not only had the previous discussion brought the underlying feelings of everyone present to the surface, but you seemed to be one of the first people to have seen the physical state in which he was the driver after the big crash that shocked all fans of the sport; Just by remembering the images that your television had broadcast, you could notice how the hairs on your arm stood on end. There were mixed feelings, and in that caravan, Niki felt cornered and ashamed of having to deal with someone else's opinion, a smirk from another fan, or a derogatory comment from someone who thought he was a class jerk.

You acted in silence. You believed that the words were not necessary because perhaps he would end up misinterpreting them due to his state of nervousness and defense. You carefully bent down to pick up his cap, still holding your big professional camera in your other hand even though it was hanging from your neck by a strap, gently shaking the garment a little to remove any traces of dirt it had caught. As it fell to the ground, you approached the pilot to return it to him, placing it gently on the table in front of him next to your work object, smiling softly and kindly before taking a seat across from him in the old chair that he loved so much you had reused it during the last season; you had already made a mental note of changing it, you even swore you had mentioned it to one of the people in charge of the photo shoots, mainly because your butt was starting to hurt, and you had just sat down, so you did not want to imagine how the Austrian must feel in front of you or any of the other guests who had accepted this little job. By this point, while you were pondering the possibility that you might lose the shape of your ass, Niki had already put her cap back on, keeping her gaze on a different point in the room other than you. "I hope you don't consider leaving us here. He's an idiot, he's like that with everyone," you mentioned, being the first of the two to speak, showing your willingness to have a quiet conversation with him to address the issue that had led him to sit there, trying to run away from the gaze of other people. "If he thinks you have a flaw or something that he might get more people to buy the magazine, he'll do whatever it takes to show it, even if it's personal or makes the celebrity he's dealing with uncomfortable. I think he even once almost hid in the closet of this trailer just to get a picture of a Motocross rider so he could show the tattoo he had of his ex-girlfriend or something similar; when the guy in question found out, he almost sued us, and it didn't surprise me at all when we found out about it." Niki remained silent, watching you now as he tried to figure out the reason why you were still with him there. At that moment you wanted to be a fortune teller to find out what he was thinking or to have the power to disappear because you didn't think you could bear the Austrian's intense gaze for much longer. "I think he also made a pass like that to a woman he modeled for us, but I don't remember exactly what sport she was in," you muttered, trying to find a suitable topic of conversation, even if your mind wasn't quite sharp enough then to choose something in particular to make the tension between them vanish. But honestly, what conversation could arise between a racing driver and a photographer? Unless each other's respective fields were discussed, it was unlikely that anything genuine would come of that encounter. "I'd even swear something similar happened with Hunt, but it was with his shirt, and he didn't have much qualms about taking it off either, honestly," you continued, turning your gaze back to him when you realized how you seemed to have gotten so involved in your world that you hadn't even noticed how you had started to ramble, finally realizing that his intense gaze was for you to shut up and leave him alone. "Sorry."

A sigh escaped from Niki's lips. You felt bad. Why would you say otherwise? You heard your boss ask him on several occasions in an amusing way to remove his cap, in a way that was too nice for what that stubborn man you worked for really was, always getting a slightly uncomfortable but negative response from the pilot as he tried to keep a bit of composure in each of the photographs for which he was modeling until finally, you could distinguish during your short break a loud voice coming from the Austrian that surprised the entire production team. His thick Austrian accent stood out among the quieter English voices engaged in various conversations across the length and breadth of the set, and soon, the two men had found themselves surrounded by all the makeup, lighting, and set equipment as they tried to understand what was happening, barely being able to make out the words of the men who were shouting at the top of their lungs. Everything happened while Niki was talking calmly with your boss, the latter being the one who begged him more and more insistently to take off his cap so he could see his bandages and burns next to his grafts while a couple of your photography colleagues were they approached on the orders of the man who paid you intending to obtain something more than the rigid body of the Austrian as a cover photo; no, your boss wanted more and was eager to get it. In short, the rest did not need to be explained. Niki got pissed off, your boss started yelling at him, and the pilot couldn't find a safer place to be than in the trailer looking for a place to calm down before he got back in his car and got the hell out of there. In an act of empathy? You didn't even know if you could call it that, you placed your hand on the fabric of the shirt that covered your shoulder, gently caressing it while you felt the soft brush of the fabric against your soft skin and lacking the orange hue of your light natural tan. You frowned gently as you tried to stop your hand, it didn't seem to respond to your commands by itself, but you gently held the collar of your shirt so you could show him the graft that you also had, the product of a freak accident that in your time you tormented for having provoked, in some way trying to show him that he was not completely alone in that fight against what others might think or simply to make him see that that situation of anxiety and nervousness, lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, had no to suffer all alone. The look full of surprise from him captivated you.

His opaque blue eyes, barely visible thanks to the bill of his cap, seemed to shine with intensity when they found that part of your shoulder that was paler than the rest, distinguishing the places where the suture had joined a certain part of your healthy skin with the transplanted from another area of his body; That image reminded him of the same marks that he had suffered from seeing every time he looked in the mirror or when he saw his own hands. "It was a few years ago, quite a few to tell the truth," you indicated, smiling softly at him while you made sure of how your image seemed to have blocked him. "I was young and crazy, and I said to myself, why not play kitchen while the beans are cooking? I put my feet up on the little low bars that surrounded the kitchen and tipped over the entire pot of burning beans. They not only affected my shoulder but also my neck and head area a bit." Niki couldn't help but gently tilt her head to the left side, watching you part your hair from the side of your head a little to show him the small skin grafts in those already healed and lightly covered areas. He didn't understand how he hadn't noticed before. "Young?" He asked, being the only word you could hear coming from between his parted lips separated by his largest incisors, watching how he licked his slightly drier upper lip.

"At eighteen years old," you answered, suddenly hearing a strange snort escape from Niki that caused your mouth to open in surprise and indignation as if you were somehow annoyed by the sound she had just emitted. "Don't laugh. I told you she was young!" You heard the snort again, causing you to cross your arms in indignation while one of your eyebrows rose slightly, waiting for him to stop. He would simply settle into his chair and gently adjust the cap on his head, leaning forward as he reached for your camera and began fiddling with it in your hands. "Yes, but I didn't expect an adult to really be as 'crazy' as you mentioned. What went through your head to do something so dangerous and stupid?" Questioned Niki while a smile, finally sincere, appeared on her face, insulting you along the way for free. But, after all, that was Niki. Sincere. "If I told you. I am a very crazy woman, Mr. Lauda. Don't push your luck with me." Soon Niki's caravan was involved in a large number of funny anecdotes and strange laughter that caught the attention of many magazine workers who were waiting impatiently for the pilot to come out.

Marlene, the Austrian pilot's best friend, had gone to the photo session to bring him the yogurts that he had asked for before leaving his house, appearing confused as she did not know where her dear friend was, encountering a strange scene that caused her heart to leap with joy because Niki was smiling and laughing in the same way he had done before the accident, and recognizing your person as the cause of those natural expressions caused a feeling of happiness. They will settle on her chest. She was happy because finally, Niki seemed to have started to love himself as he listened to all your stories about your burn and just had to see through that little round glass how his cap was now resting on the table that separated you while He was chatting animatedly with you. Marlene only hoped that the same person who was now next to the Austrian would understand that his bluish gaze full of curiosity was not just due to a few silly jokes or absurd situations, but because of a much deeper feeling that had to wait to emerge with overtime.

mclaren teammates niki lauda & alain prost are interviewed after their 1-2 finish | 1984 german grand prix

since i see youre going a bit insane about them, brocedes + second chances? 😂

i wrote like. a whole fic. and it disappeared. okay. this is an old one but feels appropriate today. for @blorbocedes for maaaybe a lil joy ❤️ shamelessly stolen chickpea lunch and ibiza idea from this wonderful fic by @sionisjaune so i hope you dont mind, its been in my head since i read it and i hope you dont mind 🫣

There are no second chances in this sport Nico, his father used to tell him when he was a child. You either win or you don't, and losing is unnaceptable.

Nico never said anything back to his father, because his father was larger than life. A World Champion and a man whom people, if not precisely loved, at least respected. Nico was a child, holding his father's hand in the crowds and dreaming of being his father's equal one day. Dreaming of the crowds parting for him, too, as he took his own child to see the Ferrari exhibit someday in the future.

"I don't think there are many second chances in this life," Mika had said to him once when he was barely out of his teenage years. "People who give them to us, they get tired, you know." His fingers were playing with Nico's hair absent-mindedly, and Nico didn't dare move kr acknowledge Mika's words in any way that would make Mika realize what he was doing and stop. "Sometimes you come to your twentieth second chance, and the person giving them to you is tired, and so they stop trying." He had smiled then, that handsome smile of his. Nico knew Mika was looking through him despite staring intk his eyes. "And so the second chance becomes a last one, and you don't even realize it. A shame." His smile turned sour, but he hadn't stopped playing with Nico's hair for hours after, and that was more than enough.

"There are no second chances!" Niki had screamed at him once. "There are no fucking second chances, and if you're lucky enough to get one by some stupid twist of fate, you don't waste it! You don't fucking waste it on childish pettiness and pointless grudges! You," Niki had yelled, and then put his hand on his chest, gasping for breath. Nico had hoped he wouldn't get a heart attack tight then, which was a possibility with how red his face was and how shallow his breathing. He didn't want to be known as the person who sent Niki Lauda to his grave when even an exploding car couldn't have done it. "You don't waste it, kid," Niki had rasped, and Nico nodded and thought about fastest way to call for team medics the moment Niki barked for him to get out.

"I don't know if I can do this again, Nico, how many second chances..." Jenson had started to say, but he was done the moment his eyes fell on Nico's lips. Nico put his hand on Jenson's chest, and nuzzled in, and that was it. Just like Jenson was done every single time up until then, and would be done every single time in the future when Nico seeks him out.

Lewis never spoke about second chances to Nico. Nevertheless, he was there for all of it.

A hand in his at the Ferrari exhibit, a guest of his father's and Nico's only friend, in Monaco. Waiting for Nico at the airport to get back from his vacations in Finland. Pushing a glass of water into Niki's hands and then helping him drink it while Nico called the medics. On the other side of the stall door in the bathroom in the club in Monaco as Nico pushed Jenson down on his knees.

"It's good to see you," Nico said, and it was the truth. Lewis always shone brightest when he won, and a P2 was a win in itself under the circumstances.

"Thank you," Lewis replied, and smiled, and answered all of Nico's questions politely, and walked away at the end of his interview, giving his microphone to Russell.

"It's real good to see you, man," Lewis had said on Saturday when they had lunch in Lewis' trailer.

"Thank you," Nico had replied, and took another bite of his chickpea salad.

They didn't speak much over lunch, but they didn't need to. Just like they didn't need to speak when Lewis knocked on Nico's door at the cabin in Ibiza that Nico, against all precautions, started to think of as theirs. They have used it, on and off, for the past two decades after all.

Some things don't bear repeating, and some things are too intrinsic to ever have to be said.

Hello, I just saw an ask you sent abnerkrill about f1. I'm very new to the sport (I'm on s4 of Drive to Survive and have just begun following the current season), and doing some research into f1 history for a project I'm working on. Do you have any resources on the history of f1? And do you know where I can find the Senna documentary? No pressure to respond, of course, and thanks for sharing your insight in that ask.

Hell yeah I can help! DTS is docudrama which means it will make a storyline outta nothing, so you've probably been given a very warped view of the sport. Which isn't to say it isn't good fun! Its just not helpful to understanding the sport.

I've been into motorsport coming up on 4 years now and I've read/watched a bunch on the history of F1 and motorsport. I'll list some of that stuff here:

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:

One: Life On The Limit (documentary)

Free on youtube. Interviews tons of drivers. Got me into the sport. I mean it when i say it interviews a ton of old drivers/important people from multiple eras and paints a real picture of the danger of the sport. Fair warning: it contains footage of fatal crashes and if you find that upsetting I totally understand and won't blame you for skipping it

Lauda (Documentary)

Eveyone should know about Niki. I say this half-ironically. Hes my fav driver so I'm biased but his impact on the sport cannot be overstated. His story, from his championship to his horror crash and full body burns to his next two championships and his fight for driver safety is incredible. He was half of the pair that organized the famous driver strike! Whole grid locked themselves in a bedroom instead of driving to protest the lack of safety!

Rush (Movie)

Again Niki Lauda related, however this is THE motorsport movie. It's very accurate to the battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda for the championship, along with their friendship. It's great and even non-motorsport enjoyers loved it.

Biographies/Auto-Biographies (Books)

Tons drivers have tons, some have multiple (like Senna or Schumacher) and you can get the more well known ones from the more well known drivers off Z-Lib or annasarchive pretty easy (use a vpn and go to r/piracy and navigate to their masterpost of piracy links. if you dont have a vpn dw they list a really solid free one) you should also be able to find a host for the senna doco through there. I would recommend reading about figures like Prost, Schumacher, Lauda, Hamilton obvs but also non-drivers in the sport like Ross Brawn and Sid Watkins.

Life on The Limit (Books)

Two books by Sid Watkins (doctor who made f1 safe) that were released in tandem with the doco I mentioned and go into great detail about his friendship with past drivers. Really funny at multiple points and then absolutely heartbreaking when it comes to the things he saw and lost during those days. Highly recommend.

My friend Laura who has been watching since infancy also recommends:

- "In general for freebie resources, overtakefans as a site has a Ton of resources and history archived"

- "and if you search for 'F1 season reviews YouTube' you will usually find the short season round ups they used to do that provide you with some basic history and that can be really good if you want to know more about certain eras but don't know where to start."

Silver War (documentary)

It's abt nico and lewis and their lifelong friendship into bitter toxic rivalry into. whatever the fuck it is now. is on youtube, (I personally haven't seen it.)

Grand Prix: The Killer Years (Book)

About the deadly years of F1, I believe. (I haven't read it.)

Enzo Ferrari: The Man and The Machine (Book)

from Laura: "even though it starts WAY WAY WAY before f1 and is probably too heavy for a newbie to handle it is a VERY detailed look at not just Ferrari but early Motorsport in Europe and how that eventually led to the creation of F1 and why Ferrari has always been a presence in it"

The book also touches briefly on fascism in the sport which I will be talking abt under the readmore because I do feel it's an important disclaimer.

So, I put this under a readmore cos it's a bit long. But the one last thing I wanna say is that I think it is important when looking at F1 both in the current day and it's history to discuss the grim realities about why Motorsport is so elitist, and how that has been ingrained since it's founding.

A big thing to know about F1 history is that is was founded by the wealthy, juuust pre (late 1920s) and then post WW2 (paused during the war). It was the wealthy of this era who could afford to buy and race motorcars. From there, it was only those wealthy who could fund and form those teams. It was a rich mans hobby. And unfortunately, more often than not, those very rich men had fascist ideals (which were very, very popular in England and Italy and Europe in general and up until WW2 which made it a more distasteful ideal, although enough people certainly persisted with these beliefs more quietly).

Nazis raced in it. Nazi sympathizers raced in it. Ferrari had to work for Mussolini and Mercedes had to work under Hitler making weapons during the war, some members of these companies more willingly than others. Hell, one of F1s most famous circuits it raced on is the Nurburgring. A massive stretch of track that was made on the orders of Hitler, next to a small town where the small Jewish population had been purged. It was built to show off German Engineering and with the hopes to show off to the rest of the West (they lost against the English in the inaugural race and threw a fucking fit abt it loser fucking nazis).

These echoes of facism and elitism do still exist in european motorsport to this day and, like fascist ideals, have expanded into other continents. I don't think I could name a Brazilian driver who doesn't support Jair Bolsonaro. The Piquets are personal friends with him, Nelson (4 time world champ, prolific racist) drives him around for political rallies. Emmerson Fittipaldi (another old champion, Brazilian) ran as an MP for the Italian fascist party. Bernie Ecclestone (owned the rights to f1 for a WHILE) believes in fucking insane conspiracy theories about Jewish people and described Putin, who he is friends with, as a "good man" on national television when questioned abt the invasion of Ukraine. Max Mosely, who was head of the FIA until the late 2000s, was a youth fascist who handed out handwritten leaflets on "racial inferiority". His parents wedding was attended by Hitler himself. He was the nephew of Oswald Mosely, who was done for treason during the war for his loyalty to the Nazis and belief in Nazism. Max was still in charge when Lewis, the sports first black driver (one of two ever now, out of 70+ years of history), came into the sport. And that's not even going into the morality of some of F1s sponsors (Armco, etc) and the places they race (too long to list)

This is uncomfortable, yes, but it's not often talked about when recounting F1's history. Certainly not in documentaries or books. The creators of which who, frankly, dont even know how to touch on the subject or think it's fine to skip over. But it is a reality of the sport and it does intertwine in an irremovable way with its history, especially when you look at the people who both competed and still do compete. When you look at its current day classism, its racial inequality, sexism, homophobia, ableism etc.

Just because its easier to hide these days through weak statements, a stance of individualism on drivers political views and co-opting of activist language without actual moves towards change, certainly does not mean it isn't there. And while things have absolutely improved in terms of diversity and will hopefully continue to improve with the presence of people like Lewis Hamilton and Susie Wolff, F1 and European motorsport is and was unfortunately, founded in an era of fascism and elitism and it will be a while until those parts of the sport can be removed from its structure.

"As a race car driver, you always pay attention to detail. After all, aerodynamics is influenced by the tiniest things. So I developed a feeling for the perfection of a machine and I could live with it better and better. When I was warming up a car, I could feel the cold oil running through the engine, or at least I imagined it. Of course I know that today's engines are designed in such a way that you don't have to warm them up anymore, but it still hurts me to step on the gas right away. One should handle technical equipment the way it is technically logical. This includes the smooth, harmonious sequence of movements in a car as well as in an airplane."

-- Niki Lauda for Ramp Space Magazine